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“Yes, my son did. Ivan would never. Or at least not this soon. Cade didn’t even mean to tell me either. I caught him when he was in the middle of something and asked where you were and kept asking questions. He’s so easy to break down. I know you don’t have the best relationship with your father.”
“No relationship at all,” she said.
“Yet you went to help him?”
“It was the right thing to do,” she said.
“And you were raised to do the right thing,” Jolene said, nodding her head. “My kids too. They’d do the same even if they were cursing the person out under their breath.”
“I wasn’t cursing, but I didn’t keep much back. Not under my breath.” She wasn’t sure why she admitted that to Jolene.
“Good for you. I get the feeling you don’t stand up for yourself enough in life.”
“I do when it’s needed. It doesn’t matter. My father is who he is. I have to accept that and move on.”
“It’s hard to move on though,” Jolene said. “Your trust and faith in men have probably been on shaky ground for years.”
“Something like that,” she said.
“I’d like to think you have trust in my nephew,” Jolene said, tilting her head.
“He’s a great guy,” she said.
“But?” Jolene asked.
Jolene looked nervous suddenly, but Kendra couldn’t worry about this. “I can’t bring him into my messy life. I mean I have. He is. But I hate it. I hate that I get pulled away to deal with this stuff.”
“We all have issues in our life like this and we all do things for loved ones.”
“There isn’t a lot of lost love between my father and me,” she said.
“You know what I mean,” Jolene said, waving her hand. “When my mother got sick years ago, my siblings and I all had to take turns caring for her. We had families of our own, but we made it work. It’s what you do and not one of our spouses said a word or even thought bad of the time away from our own families while we cared for her.”
“I know. That’s different.”
“Not so much,” Jolene said. “Remember that. No one says you should be used either. You know the difference. Not all men are assholes.”
She laughed. “I’m learning that.”
“Then there isn’t anything to worry about with Ivan,” Jolene said firmly.
She sighed. “He’s great, as I said. Maybe it’s me. I’m the damaged one.”
Jolene shook her head rapidly. “Nonsense. Don’t ever say that about yourself. You’ve done more than most your age and you know it. Your mother is very proud of you. But I should say, that maybe seeing what happened with your father makes you realize how strong your mother is?”
There was no way Jolene could know what was said last night to her father. She only had to be guessing.
“My mother is one of the strongest women I know,” she said.
“That’s right. And though what happened with your father stinks and is emotional, maybe you should look at the bigger picture and see what it showed you about yourself and your mother rather than what it reminded you about your father.”
Jolene left after that and Kendra could only shake her head.
Damn, that woman sure was wise, but she wasn’t going to admit it.
* * *
“What are you doing here?”Ivan asked his aunt later that afternoon.
